Vilnius

Lithuania

February 2008
3 days

February 2 - February 4
Flew to Vilnius on a dodgy little plane from Tallinn. We all had to sit in the middle of the plane to balance it out! Interesting.
Had a walk around the massive old town, I think it's the biggest in Europe. Lots of barouque buildings, churches and a castle up on the hill overlooking the town. They were celebrating Shrove Tuesday early so the locals were dressed in some pretty freaky costumes (more like Halloween than anything else) and were dancing to music and hanging around by the old town hall. That was pretty unusual, I'm glad we got to see it going on. No pancakes in sight though which was disappointing.....
Had a look around the Jewish quarter which is almost separated from the rest of the old town by a river which curves around it to almost turn it into an island. On the old bridge crossing over into the quarter were all these locks with people's names inscribed on them. Must be a tradition when they get married I think.
I also saw the raising of the flags at the Parliament - something like the changing of the guard, but a bit quieter.
The weather in Vilnius was perfect, bright blue sky and sunny, it was so good.
Next stop was Krakow.

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